Nellore: Two children who went into the Penna River at Jonnawada, 12 km from Nellore, to take a bath drowned on Friday. They have been identified as G. Charan, 7, and D. Kavitha, 15, of Tailor Colony in Podalakur Road at Nellore.
According to locals, Kavitha, was daughter of Prasad and Dorasanamma while Charan was son of Dorasanamma’s brother. The two families had gone to Jonnawada on Friday to offer prayers at Sri Kamakshi Thayee temple in the village.
Prasad, who was in Ayyappa Deeksha, decided to take a holy bath in the river before going to the temple. The children joined him.
The three entered the water which was stored by arranging bunds for the float festival held recently. Charan drowned as he moved into the water without knowing how deep it was. Kavitha, who was in close proximity of Charan, rushed to rescue her cousin but she also drowned.
Noticing them, Prasad swam towards them and caught hold of Charan. He, however, failed to help him when Kavitha caught hold of him tightly to save herself from drowning. Some onlookers jumped into the water and rescued Prasad. They could, however, not find the two children. Police summoned ace swimmers and fire department personnel also arrived at the scene after locals alerted them.
The bodies of the two children could not be traced till 7 pmeven after three rounds of search by fire wing men and ace swimmers. Police said they are continuing the search.
This is the second incident in the same area over the last 10 days. A 28-year-old youth Narayana Swamy Sankar from Karnataka drowned in Penna River when he ventured into the water to take bath and struck in a vortex on November 28.
